'Some kind of dispute' at Puerto Rican Beneficial Society leads to one of the worst multiple shootings in Valley history.

The calls started coming in at 2:20 a.m. Sunday. Lots of them. About gunshots near the Puerto Rican Beneficial Society on E. Third Street in Bethlehem's South Side.

"We've got at least one down," the responding officer tells a 911 dispatcher after arriving at the scene.

Seconds later, his voice rising, he calls out, "I got two males shot, one is down. I got another down. I got three down. I got four down altogether. This is pretty bad … I got a fifth actor down inside a vehicle."

"I'm going to need at least four ambulances, maybe five."

In the end, a 23-year-old woman was dead and five men were seriously wounded in a shootout that is being described as one of the worst multiple shootings in the Lehigh Valley.

By Sunday night, the Lehigh County coroner's office had not yet released the woman's name, but ruled her death a homicide. The coroner's office said the female victim was pronounced dead at 2:49 a.m. at the St. Luke's University Hospital-Fountain Hill emergency room. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday. While officials did not identify the victim, friends and family identified her as Yolanda Morales of Bethlehem.

All five men who were shot were in serious to critical condition Sunday at St. Luke's-Fountain Hill, according to city police. Police have not identified those men.

"There were multiple shooters — more than one gun involved," Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said. "It was some kind of dispute involving these individuals."

He said he could not recall over his two-decade career another Northampton County shooting with so many victims.

According to a video of an interview posted by Bethlehem police on its official blog, Jeffrey Noe, a witness to the shooting, told police that the incident began as an argument. A man was walking down the street by himself and several people started hitting him with a bat, he said.

"There was a fight," Noe told police. "Two on six, two on eight. A guy pulled a gun and fired a warning shot in the air. Everybody scattered."

Shortly after, a second man started shooting people. He shot the man who had been beaten and fallen to the ground. Then the first shooter shot the second shooter, Noe said.

"After that, there was like 30 shots," he said. "I ducked for cover. Everybody was worried about their friends. Apparently, everybody was friends."

Morganelli said all of the people that investigators are looking at as potential suspects are at the hospital. He said the public should have "no concern whatsoever" that a gunman is at large.

That provided little comfort to jittery, nearby property owners. The shooting comes as Bethlehem works to transform its South Side into a destination spot with the rise of retail outlets, restaurants, entertainment at the ArtsQuest Center and gambling at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem.

John Brzyski, who owns four properties about a block from where the shooting occurred, said there are a number of bars within close proximity in that part of south Bethlehem that he described as "the night of the living dead" on Saturday and Sunday mornings — around the time bars close.

"A lot of money has been spent in this neighborhood the past 20 years," he said. "We can't have this stuff."

Morganelli said police are working hard to piece together what happened, but said the investigation has been complicated by the fact that suspects and witnesses are still undergoing medical treatment.

The officers' first responsibility, Morganelli said, was to help the victims. Only later in the morning were they able to shift their focus to the investigation.

"There are suspects, but it's very complicated," he said. "It's still being rooted out."

At the shooting scene Sunday afternoon, Maria Cruz of Bethlehem was among a steady flow of visitors at a growing roadside memorial in Morales' honor. Several candles, bouquets of flowers and a sign that read "UR gonna be missed," were placed near a parking lot where the shooting occurred.

Cruz said Morales had been a family friend for more than a decade. Morales spent every holiday with the family, and Morales was particularly fond of Cruz's grandchildren, she said.

Morales was supposed to watch her grandson Saturday night but didn't, Cruz said. If she had, her death might have been prevented, she said.

"I'm shocked," Cruz said. "This could have been one of my kids."

Friends said Morales went to Lincoln Technical School and had worked as a medical assistant.

Angel Rosario, secretary of the Puerto Rican Beneficial Society, said there are multiple surveillance cameras inside the bar area of the club, as well as outside of the building. He said police had asked to look at the video.

He said the club has four security guards and checks every patron as they walk through the door. The club has 120 active members and 800 associate members, and Rosario said only members are allowed in.

"This is the first time something like this has happened," said Rosario, adding that the club opened in 1958.